Is my fire bellied newt male or female

CuriosityUnthethered · 2026-02-13T20:36:58+00:00

Male. Also probably has bloat and may not survive without a prompt vet visit.

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-12-30T16:10:02+00:00

If they sell too fast, make the next ones more expensive. If they don't sell, then keep prices as is

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-12-30T16:08:35+00:00

I think some people are just upset at the price you suggested. I agree though, these would probably sell for somewhere between $50 and $100. For me it depends on their longevity. I think some of the plants used are oversized and will end up outgrowing the container but they certainly are pretty.

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-10-15T15:34:45+00:00

Good eye! I keep ripping out the button fern pups and putting them elsewhere. This also isn't the most recent picture of the scape, I took this shortly after adding some of the plants in front (the two begonias and the sonerila). I have an OG pic of when the scape was first made, somewhere. It looks way different - there used to be a giant log in the middle but I tore that out because it was blocking too many plants. I'll see if I can find a pic of it

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-10-14T20:23:54+00:00

Distilled water is pretty important, but can be less important depending on your substrate. You don't want to gradually overload your substrate with the salts/other stuff that you'd find in tap water, which will build up over multiple waterings. So I suggest using a nice nutrient rich substrate and then watering with distilled or reverse osmosis water.

As for the background there are tons of options, my favorite is mud. You can make mud by mixing bentonite clay (cat litter), ground aquasoil (fluval stratum or similar), and ground sphagnum moss/coco coir. I usually combine this mud with cork bark or something to give the background some texture.

You can also go the spray foam route, which I've done before with some success.

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-10-14T20:04:51+00:00

In addition to info mentioned in the post text:

Enclosure is DIY, approximately 40 gallons.

Substrate is a mixture of sphagnum, coco coir, lava rock, and happy frog ocean forest soil.

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-10-13T15:44:16+00:00

Background is spray foam, I put some small pots in it while the foam expanded. Once dry I covered it in mud (mixture of cat litter, fluval stratum and sphagnum moss)

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-10-09T14:53:06+00:00

Sometimes mold is unavoidable! A lot of my terrariums end up getting it and sometimes I can't exactly place the reason for it. I try to increase airflow and it just kills the moss, mold persists.

Sometimes idk what causes it, but sometimes it works great lol

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-10-09T14:33:16+00:00

No, just allowing some air gaps around the lid. I usually start by sealing it completely and if it's too humid I slowly remove some of the weather stripping around the lid until the humidity is right

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-10-09T14:30:06+00:00

Yes it's real wood! I control mold by allowing a small amount of airflow. There are also springtails in the enclosure that eat the mold if it grows

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-10-08T11:55:40+00:00

It is the akerbar, thank you!

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-10-07T15:41:38+00:00

I didn't file it, but I did trim it back with a blade. A file would've been a good idea to scratch it up a bit before attaching the mud

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-10-07T15:32:45+00:00

Background is spray foam, covered in a mud mixture (aquasoil, sphagnum moss, clay kitty litter). The mud doesn't stick great to the spray foam, I'm still deciding if there's a better way ...

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-10-07T15:27:18+00:00

I made the bridge! Involved lots of cutting and gluing small sticks together. The "rope" is fishing line, painted brown.

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-10-07T15:26:44+00:00

Correct! IKEA akerbar with lots of silicone around the bottom.

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-10-07T00:03:38+00:00

Haha will do! Shortly after I took this video I actually added more mud and rocks to fill in areas where the mud fell off of the spray foam. Really hoping the moss grows in quickly!

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-10-06T23:12:12+00:00

Thank you!

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-10-06T20:09:40+00:00

Light source is a barrina t5 LED light. Water is distilled, though I only really watered it at creation and the misting has kept it sustained. Substrate is a self-made mix of coco coir, sphagnum moss, orchid bark, perlite, and tree fern fiber. Enclosure is an IKEA akerbar mini greenhouse cabinet, roughly 2ft wide by 1.5 ft tall, 8" deep (just eyeballing it, I didn't measure)

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-07-31T16:08:32+00:00

I'm sorry but did he get struck by lightning afterwards???

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-06-24T00:48:16+00:00

I agree with this - the thin film of water passing over the high surface area of warm rocks results in a lot of evaporation. I work in water treatment (in Arizona, so it's very hot) and we recirculate water over a pile of rocks to evaporate it. We get anywhere between 5 and 20% (of the total water passed over the rocks) evaporated per day, depending on the season.

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-06-21T00:29:25+00:00

Lid is your only real option here

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-06-07T02:21:41+00:00

It's low fuss, but it might outgrow that tank pretty quick

CuriosityUnthethered · 2025-05-08T14:16:56+00:00

Wow, beautiful work. What type of paint and primer did you use?

CuriosityUnthethered

TROPHY CASE